Iona Bain

The cost-of-living crisis and how we can respond

This is an overview of the financial challenges facing the public right now (particularly younger people) and how employers/individuals/society can respond effectively.

• The cost-of-living crisis and its impact on different demographics.
• Advice for how to navigate the crisis as an individual/employer depending on circumstances/demographics.
• The housing crisis, central bank/government policy and the increasing complexity of digital finance.
• The all-important roadblock between financial independence and settlement.
• The wider social and cultural trends driving young people’s dissatisfaction with their finances, such as high expectations set by baby boomers.
• The biggest myths surrounding millennial finance, from the avocado brunch fallacy to the idea that we’re all self-employed side hustlers.
• The social, economic and financial factors in our favour.
• How individuals and/or organisations can capitalise on technology, expanding knowledge and cultural de-stigmatisation of money to improve our financial outlook.

NOTE: insights can be tailored to be relevant to clients’ fields, e.g. insurance, investment etc.

Financial education/inclusion: why it matters and how to make it work

An in-depth look at how financial education can transform young people’s understanding of money, looking at:

• The evidence supporting the argument for financial education.
• What’s currently going wrong in financial education?
• How self-taught money education changed my life.
• My insights gained from 10 years working on various educational projects.
• Approaches and methods that could prove most effective.
• How can organisations use financial education to empower their workforce?

Me, money and making it: how I got here and what I’ve learned

An inspirational, fun, and insightful look at how I went from clueless musician to millennial money guru who appears on BBC Morning Live every week, covering:

• How did a stolen piggy bank change my outlook on money?
• How you can understand your financial psychology, and change it for the better.
• How I learned to manage my money.
• My challenges with dyscalculia, how I overcame them and my work with National Numeracy.
• My work on BBC Morning Live and the impact I’m having.
• What are the key lessons? From learning about debt the easy way, to setting digital boundaries.

How to own it: demystifying savings, pensions and investing for a new generation

A helpful and accessible talk breaking down the modern financial landscape for young people today, looking at:

• Why long-term saving and investing matters for you and the world.
• How can you set yourself up to invest for the long-term?
• The basics of pensions, from auto-enrolment to ‘greening’ your retirement fund.
• The three main kinds of investing tech – robo-advisers, platforms and share-trading apps.
• The dangers posed by day-trading, forex, Bitcoin and ‘finfluencers’ promoting high-risk schemes.
• How to protect yourself against fraud and maximise your chances of achieving your goals.